Serial Rapist and Terrorist Jew Howard Rubin charged with running decade-long sex trafficking ring out of his Manhattan residence

For years Rubin used a secret portion of his penthouse as a sex room, painted red, with walls covered in sound-deadening carpet and outfitted with equipment for sadomasochistic activity. The legal charges say Rubin exploited women who were especially vulnerable due to their histories, which included drug addiction and previous sexual and physical abuse.

Ynet News

He made a name for himself on Wall Street as a cunning, sophisticated trader, was part of a ‘power couple’ in the world of finance and cultivated a successful image over decades…

But now Howard Rubin faces the battle of his life. According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn, he is accused of sex trafficking after bringing women into his home, sexually assaulting them, and leaving them wounded and bruised.

For years Rubin, 70, used a secret portion of the penthouse he built in Manhattan as a sex room, painted red, with walls covered in sound deadening carpet and outfitted with equipment for sadomasochistic activity, the New York Times reported. With help from his personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, Rubin recruited and paid at least a dozen women to engage in sexual acts involving bondage and additional devices.

But, according to the plaintiffs, the acts went well beyond what the women had consented to.

Powers, 45, was said by the plaintiffs to have been primarily responsible for the logistics of the trafficking, including recruiting and paying the women, arranging for them to sign non-disclosure agreements, and recording notes on the meetings, including whether Rubin derived pleasure from them. Powers was arrested in Texas and is to be transferred to Brooklyn.

The plaintiffs say Rubin exploited women, many of whom were especially vulnerable due to their histories, which included drug addiction and abuse.

According to the report, Rubin was arrested at his rented home in Fairfield, Connecticut, and appeared before a judge in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, where he denied the charges. In addition to sex trafficking, Rubin is also charged with bank fraud, and both defendants are charged with transporting persons across state lines for purposes of prostitution.

If convicted, both could face life in prison.

Although women were told they could use a ‘safe word’ to stop any sexual encounter, the plaintiffs say that often they could not utter it because they were bound, or Rubin simply ignored their pleas. The room often remained locked during the encounters, the plaintiffs say, while the women were electrically shocked and abused.

Over $74 million stashed in Cayman Islands

Rubin is also said to have provided large quantities of drugs and alcohol to the women before the sexual acts, the plaintiffs note. It is further claimed that, in one encounter, Rubin gave a victim a sedative that rendered her unconscious so he could act out a rape fantasy. The non-disclosure agreements, which Rubin kept in the penthouse, stipulated that the women bore responsibility for the activity, that Rubin provided no drugs or alcohol, and that they would not discuss the sexual acts publicly. If they breached the agreement, they would owe Rubin half a million dollars, according to the plaintiffs.

The federal prosecutor in the case stated that there are dozens of additional victims not named in the court filings. According to the prosecutor, Rubin poses a flight risk from the United States, given that he has $74.4 million in a Cayman Islands bank account.

In total, Rubin and Powers are alleged to have spent at least $1 million on the network, which operated from 2009 to 2019, the plaintiffs say.

The attorney representing Rubin, Benjamin Rosenberg, disputed the government’s claims that his client intimidated victims, and portrayed Rubin as a family man who spent much time caring for his grandchildren, which he wishes to continue doing if he is released on bail.

Rubin was prominently featured in Michael Lewis’ 1989 book ‘Liar’s Poker,’ about Salomon Brothers in the 1980s. According to the book, Rubin joined the firm in 1982 and became known as one of its most cunning traders. He left in 1985 for higher pay at Merrill Lynch. He became a Wall Street star, Lewis wrote, by applying behavioral finance research to mortgage trading. Later he became notorious for his role in a $250 million loss at Merrill Lynch in 1987, one of the largest losses ever reported by a Wall Street firm at the time. Merrill’s management blamed Rubin for the loss, alleging he executed unauthorized trades in mortgage-backed securities.

After leaving Merrill Lynch, Rubin became a fund manager at Bear Stearns and later at Soros Fund Management. He was married for 36 years to a finance professional in New York, but the two divorced in 2021, after the allegations against Rubin began to crystallize.